First, I received a big box in the mail from Amazon.com (12/2010) via my favorite sister for my birthday. I had absolutely no idea what it was (and I can usually guess what a present is–just ask my wife & kids). Anyway, I opened it up only to find a 6-pack of Quisp. If you never heard of Quisp, it’s a cereal made by Quaker Oats that disappeared from store shelves decades ago. I had no idea you could still get it. So I took my 6 boxes (“Can I have some Dad?” “No!”) and hid them in my room. (Yeah I know, nice maturity, huh?) I thoroughly enjoyed eating it for every breakfast meal for the next couple of weeks. Ah yes, artificially sugared manna from heaven.
Second, years ago when I was a kid my brother got a unicycle. He learned to ride it, but then graduated to a taller one with a bigger wheel. That left me with the smaller one, which I too learned to ride. As a teenager, I rode it on stage as part of a play, but I soon outgrew it so I followed in big brother’s footsteps and obtained a bigger unicycle with a larger wheel. Then my sister learned to ride the smaller one. My brother and I took our unicycles to college and rode them together on campus at night. You know, no students around and endless sidewalks and staircases to master. (See photos below that appeared in the Rexburg (Idaho) Standard Journal in 1981 and 1982.) Once out of college, I rarely rode so the unicycle hung on the garage wall.
Fast forward to my mid-40s when my wife and I purchased a smaller unicycle for our children. Only my son Jace learned to ride, but we still didn’t ride that often. Then for Christmas in 2009, we got him a 6-footer. Immediately the Holyoak household was smitten with a bout of “unicycle fever.” Jace picked it up in no time. Then my youngest daughter Hallie climbed on board the smaller unicycle and was peddling in no time. My unicycle came off the garage wall and the three of us spent a lot of time riding together. Jace entered his high school talent show with two unicycles and put on a performance that’s now an “instant classic” in Holyoak family lore.
The only downside of all the one-wheeled enthusiasm was Jace got a little too aggressive with my old, classic Schwinn, went off a 3-foot drop in the garage, and permanently bent it. But he found a replacement online and, thanks to a friend of a friend, we received it in the mail from Wisconsin.
And it continued. Just a few weeks later, my son excitedly called me about two used unicycles “for sale” in Missoula. I checked them out and bought them. They were both coated with rust spots and had worn out tires and leaky intertubes. I refurbished both of them. I took them apart, sanded off the rust, buffed the frame and rim, and replaced the tires and tubes. Now I have my own 6-footer. (Hallie claims it as well because she’s now riding it too.) And I “spread the love” after giving the smaller one to my niece. Below is a performance (6/17/2011) by my kids at a talent show at a church youth conference on the University of Montana campus. The international Internet site unicycle.com posted the video on its web site.
So what’s the point of this rather unique tale? If you have a “long lost love,” find it. Rekindle it. You’ll be glad you did. I sure am. (Below is a 2010 video by radio station Z-100 that includes Jace, Hallie and I riding our unicycles at a the Bike for Shelter, a fundraiser for the Watson Children's Shelter in Missoula.)
Fast forward to my mid-40s when my wife and I purchased a smaller unicycle for our children. Only my son Jace learned to ride, but we still didn’t ride that often. Then for Christmas in 2009, we got him a 6-footer. Immediately the Holyoak household was smitten with a bout of “unicycle fever.” Jace picked it up in no time. Then my youngest daughter Hallie climbed on board the smaller unicycle and was peddling in no time. My unicycle came off the garage wall and the three of us spent a lot of time riding together. Jace entered his high school talent show with two unicycles and put on a performance that’s now an “instant classic” in Holyoak family lore.
The only downside of all the one-wheeled enthusiasm was Jace got a little too aggressive with my old, classic Schwinn, went off a 3-foot drop in the garage, and permanently bent it. But he found a replacement online and, thanks to a friend of a friend, we received it in the mail from Wisconsin.
And it continued. Just a few weeks later, my son excitedly called me about two used unicycles “for sale” in Missoula. I checked them out and bought them. They were both coated with rust spots and had worn out tires and leaky intertubes. I refurbished both of them. I took them apart, sanded off the rust, buffed the frame and rim, and replaced the tires and tubes. Now I have my own 6-footer. (Hallie claims it as well because she’s now riding it too.) And I “spread the love” after giving the smaller one to my niece. Below is a performance (6/17/2011) by my kids at a talent show at a church youth conference on the University of Montana campus. The international Internet site unicycle.com posted the video on its web site.
So what’s the point of this rather unique tale? If you have a “long lost love,” find it. Rekindle it. You’ll be glad you did. I sure am. (Below is a 2010 video by radio station Z-100 that includes Jace, Hallie and I riding our unicycles at a the Bike for Shelter, a fundraiser for the Watson Children's Shelter in Missoula.)
